Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez of Washington’s Third District has portrayed herself as a working class moderate Democrat. Recent stories have shown that the congresswoman is anything but, with former acquaintances claiming that she is “cosplaying as a poor person.” Her history on the Second Amendment has shown that cosplay has ventured into her policy stances as well.
During a 2022 candidate debate, Gluesenkamp Perez laid out the first steps toward restricting gun ownership for constituents by preventing adults between the ages of 18 and 20 from exercising their constitutional rights.
"I'm a pragmatist,” Gluesenkamp Perez stated. “I think the first reasonable thing is to increase the age of purchase to 21, because kids are just not as old as they used to be.”
Gluesenkamp Perez’s statements echo the 2020 Washington State Democrat Party platform that the congresswoman adopted. Some “reasonable” measures that Democrats proposed include: ending open carry in Washington, a mandatory waiting period on firearms purchases, mandatory registration and licensing, a volume limit on firearms and ammunition ownership, a sweeping “assault weapons” ban, a ban on magazines with a capacity greater than 10, mandatory liability insurance for firearms owners, the criminalization of 3-D printed firearms, and ending reciprocity for concealed carry licenses for states who wouldn’t adopt these radical restrictions.
Despite signing on to support these insane measures, Gluesenkamp Perez represents a district that swung for President Trump by three points in 2024. Republican officials have said that her stance is wildly out of step for what her constituents want.
"Behind closed doors Marie Gluesenkamp Perez is just another woke rich kid from the city that wants to gut the constitutional right to bear arms," RNC Spokesman Nick Poche told Townhall. "Rural gun owners know a wolf in sheep’s clothing when they see one."
Gluesenkamp Perez 's failing facade as a politician of the people and her anti-gun position makes her seat one of the most competitive heading into the midterms.